User Guide > Rendering and Render Setup > Shading > About shading and texturing
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Layered shaders
You can layer shaders when you want to use more than one material for an object. Layered shaders let you create the appearance of variations in the material qualities of the surface by combining two or more material nodes that each have their own qualities. Layered shaders render more slowly than other materials, so consider using Layered textures instead to achieve similar results.
To use a layered shader, see Layer shaders.
For a description of the Layered Shader node’s attributes, see Layered Shader.
Layered textures with the Layered Shader node
The Layered Shader has an attribute called compositing flag that causes the shader type to layer materials or layer textures. You can use this to layer textures with the Layered Shader node. However, using the Layered Texture node is recommended because you can set many more options. See Layered textures for more information.
If you choose the texture option for the compositing flag, you must plug the whole network into a material (for example, Phong or Blinn).
For a description of this flag, see the Layered Shader node’s attributes in Layered Shader.